The influence of the number of cycles on shear fatigue strength to enamel and dentin using dental adhesives in self-etch mode was investigated. A two-step self-etch adhesive and two universal adhesives were used to bond to enamel and dentin in self-etch mode. Initial shear bond strength and shear fatigue strength to enamel and dentin using the adhesive in self-etch mode were determined. Fatigue testing was used with 20 Hz frequency and cycling periods of 50,000, 100,000 and 1,000,000 cycles, or until failure occurred. For each of the cycling periods, there was no significant difference in shear fatigue strength across the cycling periods for the individual adhesives. Differences in shear fatigue strength were found between the adhesives within the cycling periods. Regardless of the adhesive used in self-etch mode for bonding to enamel or dentin, shear fatigue strength was not influenced by the number of cycles used for shear fatigue strength testing.
Keywords: Dental adhesive; Dentin bonding; Enamel bonding; Number of cycles; Shear fatigue strength.